School thugs are forced on to Barbie bus

Teenage yobs who turned the school bus run into a journey from hell may now find themselves the laughing stock of their peers.

Bus operators - fed up with the bad behaviour of youths who terrorise drivers and other motorists - hope to shame the culprits by sending them to school in a bus painted a shade of pink more associated with Barbie dolls.

Mark Piddell, a director of the Imperial Bus Company in Rainham, Essex, said: "If you're a teenager trying to be Jack the lad, somehow we don't think it will look quite so impressive in a bus painted bright pink."

The bus has the names and telephone numbers of the schools it serves painted on the sides, so motorists can ring up to complain if they see more bad behaviour.

In the past, police have been called on to buses the company runs for Essex County Council taking children to St John's School in Epping, Debden Park High School and Brentwood County High School.

Teenagers have abused drivers, sprayed graffiti inside the buses and used knives to rip the seats and cut out windows. Cars have been hit by coins thrown from the buses.

Mr Piddell said: "Essex County Council is supposed to check behaviour on the buses. They used to send inspectors out who were supposed to be able to throw off troublemakers but that doesn't-happen any more. We could ban the youngsters involved but then we would just get their parents on to us complaining.

"So we came up with the idea of painting one of the buses pink and if there's trouble we'll put that bus on the route that's affected.

"We hope it would shame the yobs concerned into better behaviour. Some of them try to be Jack the lad but we hope this will embarrass them. It's not so easy to look hard when you're travelling in something that looks like a Barbie accessory."

So far, the scheme seems to have worked.

The bus has been sitting in the company's depot for the past week, waiting for the first sign of bad behaviour on the school run.

"We haven't had to send it out. Maybe the word has got round and it's having an effect," Mr Piddell said.

A spokesman for the council said it was "concerned" that well-behaved children on the same school run could be unfairly stigmatised.

But the spokesman added: "This is an operational issue for the transport company. We pay them to provide a bus service. They are free to apply any procedures they see fit to ensure the smooth running of the service."